ON HANDING OVER THE QURAN OF OTTOMAN TO MUSLIMS*

December 6 (19), 1917

Issue immediately.

People's Commissar  
I. Dzhugashvili-Stalin

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars  
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)

To the People's Commissar for National Affairs

At present the State Public Library houses a sacred treasure, the property of the entire Muslim world — the Quran of Ottoman.

The sacred relics of Muslims should be in the hands of the Muslims themselves — all Muslims of Russia desire this.

In fulfillment of the aspirations of all Russian Muslims, the regional Muslim congress of the Petrograd National District unanimously resolved:

1) The property of all Muslims — the sacred Quran of Ottoman — should immediately pass into the possession of Muslims.

2) The sacred Quran of Ottoman should be handed by the regional congress to the national parliament of Muslims of Inner Russia and Siberia* now in session in the city of Ufa.

3) The execution of this resolution is entrusted to the chairman of the congress.